Top Story

Couture homicide trial underway

By Maggie Plummer

POLSON - Two and a half years after 19-year-old Daniel McLeod of Ronan was fatally shot and dumped into the Flathead River, the homicide trial of suspect James A. Couture finally began Monday morning.

The long-awaited trial, which was postponed eight times due to an array of legal complications including numerous attorney changes the defendant requested, is expected to last all week.

Lake County Chief Deputy Attorney Mitch Young, who is prosecuting the case, and primary defense attorney John Putikka of the state's public defender office were careful as they screened potential jurors during most of the day Monday.

The large number of potential jurors crowded the courtroom.

Both attorneys appeared to dance around the ticklish, possibly key issue of self-defense.

Court documents allege that Couture, 47, knew that McLeod had repeatedly stolen marijuana from his (Couture's) house in the Pache homesites east of Ronan. On May 2, 2004, when the defendant allegedly found McLeod again burglarizing his house he allegedly shot McLeod at least 19 times.

According to court records, the defendant is accused of putting the body in his car, driving to Sloan's Bridge west of Ronan, throwing the victim's body into the river, giving the gun to a man he knew, and throwing away the magazines.

McLeod's body was discovered a few days later caught on a sandbar in the river near Dixon.

Couture faces a charge of felony deliberate homicide and two counts of tampering with or fabricating evidence. The prosecution is not seeking the death penalty in the case.

On Monday Couture, represented by Putikka and public defender Courtney Jackson of Whitefish, appeared calm during the proceedings.

As Young questioned potential jurors, at times he focused on the fact that the murder victim was shot inside the defendant's home. Asked about that tricky aspect of the case, one man was excused when he told the attorney that if someone were to break into his own home, that person would be "fair game."

After the morning break Monday, the attorneys went into Judge Christopher's chambers for a private 15-minute discussion.

During the defense's turn to screen jurors, Young objected to Putikka's questions, saying that it sounded like he was raising the issue of self-defense.

Judge Christopher overruled Young's objection, pointing out that the issue had already been raised during the prosecution's questioning of potential jurors.

Since the verdict in the trial must be unanimous, jurors were also quizzed about their ability to stick to their own opinion even if outnumbered.

At 3:45 p.m., when the five-man, seven-woman jury was seated and two alternate jurors had also been selected, Young began his opening statement by saying that "two wrongs don't make a right."

Although McLeod was wrong to break into the defendant's house to steal marijuana, Couture was "more wrong," Young said, "to shoot him and shoot him and shoot him...to not call the police...to let him bleed out...to toss him in the river. The defendant knew what he'd done was wrong."

Young told the jury that the victim had on at least three occasions broken into Couture's house to steal marijuana. He also pointed out that Couture accused Daniel's twin brother Don of breaking in and stealing from him. Don told Couture that he had not done that, found out that Daniel had the marijuana, returned it to the defendant and asked Couture to leave him and his brother alone, Young said.

According to the prosecutor, police officers found blood on the carpet in Couture's house, as well as bullets, bullet fragments, blood on a chair, blood on a sidewalk, and bullet holes in a wall.

He told the jury that one of his witnesses, Tina Thatcher, had a "chilling" story to tell about the defendant. According to her, Couture had been plotting to shoot those who were breaking into his house and stealing from him.

In his opening statement, Putikka told the jury that they had just heard "the state's theory of what happened."

There are two sides to every story and two explanations to every item of evidence, he said.

The defense attorney asked the jury to "listen very carefully to what's said and to what's not said" during the trial.

The prosecution's first witness was Jackie Aimsback, with whom McLeod lived in foster care for approximately two and a half years.

She took the stand wearing a special "In Loving Memory" T-shirt featuring a photo of McLeod. Jackie described the victim as a small young man whose kidneys did not function, requiring him to keep dialysis appointments in Polson three times a week.

As she testified, Jackie had to wipe her tears. She said that although she was aware that Daniel used marijuana, she had not known that he was stealing it.

During cross examination, Putikka asked Jackie about Daniel's tattoo. She answered that it said "SPCG," which apparently stands for "Salish Pride Crips Gang."

The defense attorney also asked her about how much supervision she provided for the 19-year-old man.

The second witness in the trial was Russell Burland, who lived with Jackie, their children, and Daniel and Donald McLeod at the time of the murder. Young introduced a blown-up photograph of the dirt mound near Pache homesites where he and Jackie found Daniel's bike.

Putikka objected to the photo being introduced, saying that he didn't know when it had been taken.

Judge Christopher overruled his objection.

A significant legal complication in this case is the fact that the original warrant allowing police to search Couture's home and vehicle has disappeared, having been misplaced when late county detective Andy Cannon had it. Since Cannon's death, those papers have not been located and apparently there are no copies of them.

In mid-October, Judge Christopher ruled that the detectives working on the case would have found suspected bullet holes and blood evidence at Couture's house even without a search warrant. She also found that the police would have had sufficient probable cause to enter the defendant's home on the day of the search - May 18, 2004.

As a result, Judge Christopher ruled that many items of evidence, such as carpet pieces and blood samples, would not be suppressed during the trial.